Houston, We've Had A Party

  Phew. Time to catch our breath. We just arrived in Houston after three days of driving from Florida. Mind you, we didn't drive for three days. It just took us three days to get here. Like all good stories I'll start this one from the beginning.

  We left Boynton Beach Thursday afternoon and made our way up to St. Augustine Beach, encountering this along the way.

I feel like I should add a comment here but I think the picture speaks for itself.

  We stopped in a shady motel where Penny was concerned about bedbugs. There weren't any but I still feel the urge to scratch just thinking about it. Interestingly, during our first trip to Florida, in 1982, we also stopped in St. Augustine and sat down in a restaurant to get dinner when a cockroach ran across our table. St. Augustine and bugs seems to be a thing for us.

  The next day we hung around to do some sightseeing now that we were back in Atlas Obscura mode. Our first stop was an old marker for Mile 0 of the Spanish Trail from San Diego to St. Augustine, one of the first attempts at a transcontinental motor highway. Of course, you wouldn't know it unless you actually spent a few seconds to read the attached plaque. A woman nearby didn't and spent the next few minutes discussing how it was a rather oddly-shaped cannonball. She might have been wearing a MAGA hat.

  From there we attempted to check out a fountain that was supposed to represent Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. Of course, in order to view the spectacle we would have to fork out $25 each. We declined. I'm sure the cannonball lady would have paid.

  With the tourist kitsch behind us we headed west to New Orleans. On the way we took a couple of Atlas detours. The first brought us to the shores of the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville, FL where we found a Space Shuttle rocket booster.

  Yes. Big. It used to be at the Kennedy Space Center but they wanted to move it out to make way for a new display. A local entrepreneur thought it would make a nice attraction for a museum he was planning to build. Unfortunately, after managing to transport all two hundred feet of it to this spot he ran out of money and abandoned it where it still lies, rusting away on a trailer by the side of an industrial park road.

  After that it was time to meet up with Johnny Donutseed.

  Well, he was originally Johnny Appleseed but the restaurant that commissioned this masterpiece went bust and a Florida gas station bought Johnny and had the apple modified to look like a donut. His other hand had a take-out coffee cup but I think it got stuck in the drive-thru window, because it's gone.

  Moving right along, our next stop was Greenville, FL, home of Ray Charles. Yes, Florida. I guess ol' Ray figured "Florida On My Mind" wouldn't sell many records.

  Finishing off our morning jaunt through Weirdsville we found an interesting school.

  I would have figured, for the money they must charge for this place, the least they could do was provide bed linens of a higher quality. Of course, around the corner was a yard full of whales, so the holy comforters didn't sound so weird any more.

  You have to work hard to find this stuff. It doesn't just happen. Anyway, after that it was time to make tracks with another four hours driving to complete Friday.
 

  When we originally planned this trip I thought this would be a regular Saturday in the Big Easy. It wasn't until I tried to book a hotel room that I clued into the fact we were going on Super Bowl weekend, the eleventh time it has been held there. No rooms available so we ended up staying in shady motel number two in Pascagoula, MS.

  Now, before I get into our day in Nawlins you might remember there was a terrorist incident there New Years Day. A vehicle was driven into the Bourbon Street crowd killing fourteen people. With the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras coming up, ensuring there wouldn't be a repeat incident was of primary importance. When we got to the French Quarter we found it locked down with hundreds of police officers, soldiers and security guards. No vehicles. Checkpoints staffed by soldiers with automatic weapons.

  It was weird but it didn't seem to dampen the mood. We scoped out the area which was dead at 9 am then headed down near the waterfront to check out the Super Bowl parade. Along the way we ran across this group trying to engage the Homeland Security guys in front of their armored car.

  Kind of goes with the whole "anything goes" spirit of the place. We also passed the Cabildo, where the Loui/siana Purchase was signed in 1803.

I wonder if they have one of those in Greenland?

  Then it was time for the parade. What a hoot! Lots of marching bands, Mardi Gras-like floats, drill teams, etc. New Orleans knows how to put on a parade.

  One of the really cool things about New Orleans parades is the bead necklaces. As each float goes by all the people riding it toss these coloured bead necklaces at the spectators. They throw other stuff too, like beer cozies, plastic cups emblazoned with promotional slogans, Cheetos and bags to carry, wait for it, the tons of bead necklaces you collect while standing there watching the parade. We now have one of these bags in the trunk of the car. Inside it is about thirty pounds of necklaces and I'm already anticipating the future. Like, when we cross the border back into Canada and we have to declare about two hundred of these things. Or, in ten years when we uncover them in a box marked "DO NOT THROW AWAY". I feel like I've been here before.

  With the parade done we grabbed a couple of beignets to tide us over until dinner.

  Then it was off to the paddlewheeler Natchez for a two hour cruise on the Mississippi. But not before encountering this group.

  Words fail me here. Combine that with the booming voices of crazies preaching that Jesus loves me and God's gonna get me and you have NOLA in a nutshell.

  The river tour itself wasn't terribly interesting but the steamboat itself certainly was. With steam generated by burning diesel fuel instead of coal the twin steam engines powered us up and down the river like it was 1870 once again.

  The engine room is open for the passengers to get a close look at the old tech that drives this thing and it's all pretty impressive.

  With the tour done it was time to head back to the Quarter for some dinner... and some music.

  By the time we were done eating darkness was settling in and with it came the mess that is Bourbon Street after dark.

  It's worth noting at this point that we saw a lot of weed being smoked. A lot. The state of Louisiana has not decriminalized marijuana. However, New Orleans itself allows people to toke up for medicinal purposes only. Therefore, I can only assume the Quarter was akin to a giant hospital ward, what with all those poor, sick people smokin' that ol' medicinal grass.

  And that brought our day to an end. Another night in a crappy motel, this time near Baton Rouge, LA, and we headed off to Houston Sunday morning. But first we needed to make a stop. You see, the ol' Atlas told us about the "Wrong Way Cemetery" and, well, you know. We just had to go.

  If you know your Christian cemetery protocol you'll be aware people are buried east to west, that is, feet to the east, head to the west. Something about being able to see the rising sun or Jesus rising or the House of The Rising Sun which, by the way, is a great song. Anyway, the town of Rayne, LA was moved so it would be on a new railway line in the late 1800's and they took their cemetery with them. Trouble was, when it was time to unload all the "residents" there was a misunderstanding and the workmen laid everyone north to south, thus the Wrong Way Cemetery.

  You'll note all the tombs are above ground. That's because, in this part of the world, much of the real estate is below sea level so digging down six feet gets you a swimming pool, not a grave.

  Anyway, the cemetery wasn't our only reason to visit Layne. You see, the town actually has another claim to fame. Frogs.

  Yes. Frogs. Everywhere. It turns out this town supplies a lot of frog legs. Really. In fact, the town has a festival every year to celebrate that fact. The townspeople have embraced it and have planted frogs everywhere throughout the town.

  It's a thing. They painted a mural too.

  But the thing that struck us the most was this.

  Yes. Poupeville. Remember when they moved the town to get closer to the tracks? Well, they moved Poupeville and renamed it Layne. Can't understand why. I mean, if they had just left well enough alone they could have made millions by patenting this:

  Opportunity lost. With that sad story we departed Louisiana for the Lone Star State. Like when we arrived in Florida weeks ago, the day we arrived in Houston was hot and sweaty, only to be followed by a forecasted week of cool temps and rain. It won't be bad though as there's lot to keep us busy here. Houston has museums and parks and the Johnson Space Center and it's only an hour to Galveston's beaches. It should be a fun stay.